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Re-elected Pleasanton school board members Valerie Arkin and Jamie Hintzke and newly-elected trustee Steve Maher will take the oath of office at 7 p.m. tonight.
The three will be sworn into four-year terms at an organizational meeting preceding the regularly scheduled board meeting.
They were the top vote-getters in a four-way race for three seats up for election Nov. 8.
Maher, the retired principal of Hart Middle School, will take trustee Chris Grant’s seat, as Grant decided he would not seek re-election after nearly a decade on the board.
Hintzke, the current board president, and trustee Arkin won their third consecutive terms, with Hintzke edging out challenger Kathleen Ruegsegger by 144 votes.
The swearing-in will take place after the current board receives the certified election results.
Following the oath of office, the new board president and vice president for the next year will be appointed, and trustees will be selected to serve as representatives on various local committees and boards.
Alongside acknowledgments of Fairlands Elementary School and Measure I1 bond chairs and committee members, the board will also recognize trustee Grant for his service during the organizational portion of the evening.
The meeting will get underway after a closed session in the district office boardroom, 4665 Bernal Ave.
Highlighting the regular meeting agenda is an update on the Measure I1 bond issue. Pleasanton voters passed the $270 million bond initiative with 69.1% support.
The bond proceeds can only be spent on school projects dealing with safety and security, 21st century learning environments, energy and water efficiencies and renovations and replacements of existing facilities as specified in the ballot language.
Administrators will present the board with immediate next steps associated with the bond program, which include opening an application window for a citizens bond oversight committee, setting policies and procedures for that committee and creating a director of facilities and construction position.
The board will be asked to reinstate the director of facilities and construction position as part of a possible action item later in the meeting.
Trustees are slated to certify election results and review the citizens bond oversight committee application and set of policies at the next board meeting Jan. 17.
In other actions, district administrators will ask trustees to approve a pay increase for substitute teachers in light of an ongoing challenge hiring them.
The board approved a rate increase for substitute teachers in January, but the district continues to struggle to hire them, according to a board memo from administrators. The current rate for substitute teachers is $120 per day in their first 10 days.
Staff is recommending increasing the pay rate for substitutes suring that period to $130 per day, and that long-term substitutes (those working 11 or more days) to receive $155 per day. They are also recommending that all retired Pleasanton teachers who return as substitutes receive $155 a day.
If approved, the rate increases would take effect Jan. 16.
Also tonight:
* The board will hear and discuss an Amador Valley High School student presentation on waste in Pleasanton.
* Deputy superintendent of business services Micaela Ochoa will present an interim financial report and a report on 2015-16 fiscal year capital fund revenues and expenditures for the board to review and discuss.
* Trustees will be asked to approve the 2017 summer school program, which will provide credit recovery and academic intervention opportunities for PUSD students.
The board also will be asked to adopt a resolution establishing temporary borrowing between funds for the 2017-18 fiscal year.
Based on its cash flow analysis, the district anticipates needing to borrow cash temporarily to meet current obligations, according to district administrators. State education code allows district governing boards to move money temporarily between accounts for payment of obligations.
Amounts transferred would be repaid either in this fiscal year or the next one.
In closed session beginning at 5 p.m., the board is scheduled to take unspecified personnel actions, confer with union representatives and discuss anticipated litigation.
It is time to drain the swamp. The School Board needs to resoundly reject Agenda Item 17.3 Ratification of November 2016 Contracts. Why does the District spend over $100,000 on so-called LEAD Coaching and put a bunch of PUSD insiders on the payroll? Explain why the ex-Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in charge of the Jon Vranesh debacle is now on contract with the Pleasanton Unified School District. What in the world is PUSD doing that they would hire back these people, what in the world is LEAD Coaching, and is Skye Larsh related to Bill Faraghan and if so how?
C17-129 Skye Larsh Faraghan LEAD Coaching 6/30/2017 $7,080.00
C17-130 William Faraghan LEAD Coaching 6/30/2017 $3,580.00
And let me guess. Has PUSD also got on the payroll the ex-Business Services Assistant Superintendent Luz Cazares who now operates under the business pseudonym of Lucid Partnerships, LLC?
Swamp person: Sounds like you need to attend the meeting and be heard.
No other industry in town other than Pleasanton’s school district apparently hires underqualified middle and senior managers (equivalent of vice principals and principals and central office administrators) then has to squander tax payer funds to hire an army of so-called “coaches.”
Parvin Ahmadi even had a “coach” herself at tax payer expense.
This is a tremendous waste of money and only indicates that in the so called Closed Sessions the school board is knowingly hiring people that they know do not have the experience or qualifications to do the jobs they were hired to do.
These contracts for these coaches and the perpetual hiring of retired, removed or otherwise no longer employed need to be nullified. Now.
Faraghan back? OMG.
Sounds like our management salaries are too high for their qualifications if we are also paying for this many coaches. There should also be enough qualified employees in our district, already being paid a salary, that can mentor others. That is how it is done in the real world. The only reason to have these people come back as consultants is if we do not have the correct processes in place to document procedures. Looks like the employees do not document things so that the district is forced to pay them as consultants after they leave. This is sending a bad message and should not be tolerated.
Looked up Lucid Partnerships. Yes that is Luz and we should NOT be doing any business with that firm/Luz. The district keeps making mistakes like this. Like hiring attorneys who said we had an ironclad agreement with Signature Properties to build an elementary school (attorney on the board and as a consultant).